Qatar Kite Festival 2026 Event Details Guide (Updated)

This Qatar kite festival 2026 event details guide explains how to experience the Qatar Kite Festival in Doha, from confirmed dates and locations to activities, access, and tips for families.

The guide focuses on winter events in Qatar at Old Doha Port, with clear information about the third edition in January 2025 and the upcoming 2026 kite festival in Qatar.

Qatar Kite Festival Returns in January 2026

Qatar Kite Festival ran as a multi venue event in 2025 and returns as a major kite flying festival in Doha in January 2026. In 2025 the festival unfolded in three locations, starting at Sealine from 16 to 18 January, linking to the Doha Marathon by Ooredoo at Hotel Park from 16 to 17 January, and then moving to Old Doha Port from 19 to 25 January.

For 2026, official Qatar Kite Festival website confirm that the festival is scheduled from 15 to 24 January 2026. The 2026 kite event in Qatar keeps Old Doha Port as the main venue, with day night kite flying sessions, 20 professional kite teams, cultural shows, and ground activities such as kite making workshops for children and food and beverage outlets.

Location, Dates and tickets of Kite Festival 2026 Qatar

Location: Old Doha Port (Mina District).

The central venue for the festival is Old Doha Port in Doha, Qatar, near the Mina District waterfront. Since 2023 this area has become the main stage for International Kite Festival activities, with cruise ships, the sea, and the Doha skyline forming a natural Doha Skyline Canvas for kite photography and public viewing.

In 2025, Qatar Kite Festival used three locations, yet Old Doha Port served as the largest site and final stop. In 2026, announcements again point to Old Doha Port as the main venue for the 15 to 24 January 2026 dates.

Dates: 15 – 24 January 2026

For 2026, the official Qatar Kite Festival communication, reported on 7 January 2026, gives dates from 15 to 24 January 2026, again in January winter. Local platforms updated on 8 January 2026 echo these dates and highlight day and night sessions, professional kite flying teams, and a strong focus on family fun, food stalls, and kite-making workshops.

Location, Dates and tickets of Kite Festival 2026 QatarLocation, Dates and tickets of Kite Festival 2026 Qatar

Tip for Visitors: January in Qatar is a winter month with mild temperatures that support long outdoor sessions. Visitors can expect pleasant afternoons and cooler evenings, so packing a light jacket, hat, and sunscreen makes sense for long kite flying sessions.

Tickets & Entry Information

General Admission: Entry to the Qatar Kite Festival 2026 is free for all visitors. You do not need to purchase a ticket to enter the Old Doha Port grounds or watch the displays.
Kite Workshops: Participation in the kids’ kite-making workshops is typically free, but registration is often required on-site due to limited capacity.
Premium Zones: While general entry is free, organizers may introduce specific “VIP” viewing areas or paid food experiences closer to the event. Check the Visit Qatar App for any last-minute premium additions.

How to Reach Old Doha Port (Mina District) for festival?

The festival takes place at Old Doha Port (Mina District). Here are the best ways to get there:

By Metro:

Take the Gold Line and get off at the National Museum Station.
From there, you can take a dedicated shuttle bus (if available during the event), a short taxi ride, or walk approximately 20 minutes to the Mina District entrance.

By Car:

There is ample parking available at the Old Doha Port and the adjacent Box Park.
Follow the signs for “Mina District” or “Cruise Terminal.” Underground parking is also available in the district, but it fills up quickly on weekends.

By Taxi / Ride Hailing:

Book a Karwa or Robo taxi by Karwa, Uber, or Ryde directly to “Old Doha Port” or “Mina District.”
There are dedicated drop off points near the festival entrance to ensure pedestrian safety.

For festival visitors, Old Doha Port offers easy access by car, taxi, and bus, and it links naturally with nearby Qatar Outdoor Activities. The Visit Qatar App helps guests save locations, read Things to know, and navigate to parking, restrooms, prayer rooms, and the main festival entrance.

List of Activities at Kite Festival Qatar 2026

Qatar Kite Festival offers a mix of sky high excitement and ground level engagement, so it appeals both to dedicated kite flyers and to families seeking a simple kite flying event in Qatar. The main activity pillars are day & night kite flying, kids’ kite workshops, food and fun zones, and opportunities to learn from past editions.

Day-night kite flying

Day & night kite flying is the signature activity of Qatar Kite Festival and is present in both the 2025 and 2026 editions.

Daytime: Precision aerobatics, wind-powered innovation displays, and giant character kites (dragons, sea creatures).
Nighttime: Illuminated kites and synchronized team flights creating a light show effect.

Professional kite flying teams from at least 20 countries perform large show routines using themed kites, including Qatar themed motifs, dragons, sea creatures, and geometric designs. In 2025 more than 60 professional kite flyers joined, and in 2026 around 20 top professional teams form a core group for large scale displays over Old Doha Port.

Augmented Reality Kite Flying is another innovation, where visitors can use mobile apps to overlay digital patterns, character animations, or flight paths onto real kites through their phone screens.

Tips: The impact of sandstorms on kite flying and mitigation strategies, such as checking forecasts, using stronger kite lines, and packing protective covers, are part of the safety briefing for experienced flyers.

Kids’ kite workshops in Kite Festival

Kids’ kite workshops sit at the heart of family programming and appear clearly in Qatar Tourism event descriptions for both 2025 and 2026. Children can learn kite building and decorating in simple stages, take handling lessons, and then test Community Kite Building projects on the festival field.

Many kids’ programmes focus on kite-making workshops that use Sustainable Kite Materials and introduce Environmental Education.

Ethical Kite Flying is explained through simple rules about reusing materials, collecting broken parts, and respecting the sea and port environment, which fits well with events like the Seabed Cleaning Initiative in Mina District. Bio-Kite Materials, such as using date palm fibres in frames or tails, offer a concrete way to connect kite design with local agriculture and research.

Adaptive Kiting Techniques for Differently-Abled Participants can be integrated into kids’ sessions and quiet time slots. For example, volunteers can support seated flying positions, use adaptive harnesses, and create lower flight zones where control is easier.

Food and fun at Kite Festival 2026

Dining: Food stalls and pop-up kiosks serving Qatari snacks and international street food.
Entertainment: Roaming parades, carnival-style shows, and daily stage performances.
Culture: “Majlis” style gathering areas for storytelling and cultural exchange.

There are many entertainment layers beyond food. Roaming shows, parades, daily stage performances, and Integration of traditional Qatari music with kite flying performances create a full festival atmosphere in the Mina District and Mina Parks. Visitors can move between Artistic Kite Creations on display, Experiential Kite Workshops, and Thematic Kite Zones that group kites by country, character type, or design theme.

About the Festival

The Qatar Kite Festival is a large outdoor kite flying festival that turns Doha’s winter skies into a field of giant kites, character designs, and precision kite aerobatics.

It is part of the official Qatar Tourism brand programme of winter events in Qatar and is promoted through channels such as the Visit Qatar App and the Qatar event calendar.

The festival brings together Global Kite Masters from more than 20 countries, along with local teams, kite enthusiasts, and families. It blends Qatari heritage celebrated through design themes and performances with contemporary kite technology, artistic kite creations, and interactive kite displays.

The event supports Qatar’s tourism strategy by filling the Qatar festival schedule in January with a family friendly spectacle in one of Doha’s most scenic waterfront locations.

Third Edition

The Kite Festival Third Edition in 2025 marked an important step for the event and for Old Doha Port. The Old Doha Port event listing shows the kite festival in Mina District from 19 to 25 January 2025, with afternoon and early evening sessions that invited residents, cruise visitors, and tourists to enjoy kites over the sea.

The 2025 edition highlighted Sustainable Kite Materials through the use of biodegradable kite components and Bio-Kite Materials such as research based designs using date palm fibres. Ethical Kite Flying (a movement promoting sustainable kite materials and minimal environmental impact) fits naturally with this focus and aligns with Qatar’s growing eco conscious kiteflying scene and Seabed Cleaning Initiative events in Mina District.

This third edition also strengthened regional links with The Gulf Kite Collective, an informal regional group promoting kite flying across the Arabian Gulf.

Organizers promoted Qatar Kite Festival 2025 as part of winter events in Qatar that support both visitors and local businesses.

Activation zones near Mina District and Mina Parks showcased local artisans, a kite design competition, and community kite building, which helped small vendors test ideas similar to a case study of a successful kite-based micro-business in Qatar that sells hand painted kites and kite photography prints year round. The festival’s Third Edition status set the stage for the 2026 fourth edition as a regular highlight in the Qatar festival guide.

Family-Friendly Event

Qatar Kite Festival is promoted as one of the top Qatar family events, with activities for children, teenagers, adults, and elderly visitors. Families can enjoy kids’ kite workshops, a kids’ fun zone, roaming shows, carnival style parades, stage performances, and relaxed seating areas where grandparents can watch without walking long distances.

Accessibility considerations for elderly participants include flat promenades at Mina District, shaded seating, and easy access from the cruise terminal and car parks. Adaptive Kiting Techniques for Differently-Abled Participants, based on case studies from a UK based charity, provide methods such as harnessed kite bars, seated flying positions, and buddy systems, which organizers and local clubs can adapt for Doha’s conditions.

Kite Therapy for PTSD, a pilot concept that uses controlled kite flying for stress relief among veterans and first responders, can be integrated within quieter time slots and supervised workshops.

The role of a majlis in preserving kite traditions appears in informal gathering areas where Qatari families share stories about childhood kite flying, regional kite designs, and winter wind patterns. These spaces help transmit knowledge about Qatari kite design traditions and their links to wider Gulf styles, and they create an inclusive environment where Cultural Exchange Aloft happens in a practical way.

Conclusion

January in Doha has a busy Qatar event calendar, so you can combine Qatar Kite Festival with other Qatar Entertainment options. For example, on 23 January 2026 you can attend a performance by Abeer Nehme with the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra as part of wider winter events, then return to Old Doha Port for evening kite flying and food stalls.

Together these Qatar family events 2026 choices form a simple Qatar travel guide for visitors who want several nights of activities in the same week.

FAQs about Qatar Kite Festival 2026

The Qatar Kite Festival is an international kite flying festival in Doha that brings together professional teams and families for day and night kite flying, workshops, food stalls, and cultural performances at Old Doha Port. The event is part of the winter events in Qatar and appears on the official Qatar Tourism events calendar as a key Qatar family event.

Qatar Kite Festival 2026 is scheduled from 15 to 24 January 2026, with the main venue at Old Doha Port in Doha, Qatar. These Qatar event details come from official announcements shared through local media, and visitors can confirm any updates through the Visit Qatar App and the Qatar Tourism website.

The main kite event in Qatar takes place at Old Doha Port, especially in and around the Mina District and Mina Parks waterfront areas. Past editions have also used Sealine and Hotel Park for selected days, yet Old Doha Port remains the central location in both the 2025 third edition and the 2026 latest edition.

Qatar Kite Festival has offered free entry in recent editions, with some paid experiences or premium zones depending on the organizer’s final plan. For the latest Qatar Kite Festival tickets information, visitors should check official channels shortly before the event dates, since final ticketing details for 2026 are still being refined.

This guide helps by combining confirmed dates, locations, and activity types into a simple event details guide that matches how visitors search for kite festival Qatar information. You can use it together with the Visit Qatar App and official channels to choose the best days, understand what to expect at Old Doha Port, and connect the festival with other kite event Qatar options and winter events in Doha.